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“Arrow” recap (3.12): Glades Side Story

Previously on Arrow, Oliver got mostly killed but was revived by Tatsu (who you all let me call Katsu for like a hundred recaps!), Brick took over the Glades in Oliver’s absence, despite Felicity and Laurel keeping the Arrowless Team Arrow as functional as possible.

Oliver tries to sneak out of Tatsu’s cabin, but she catches him, telling him he’s going to undo all her hard work and get dead again if he leaves now. He says he has to go, but she can come with him to be his traveling nurse is she wants. As appealing as that sounds, she declines; she’s in hiding just like her ex-husband. And I can’t help but notice their son is nowhere to be seen.

Back in Starling City, police presence has been pulled, and Brick sends men to collect “tax” from a local diner. And if you thought regular taxes were bad, this tax is just “everything in the register.” But Arsenal and the Black Canary won’t stand for such nonsense, and they swoop in like Robin Hood and Maid Marian and kick everyone’s asses.

Felicity wonders why no one is calling 911, but they’re too scared; they think they’re without protection now. Laurel and Roy show them that the police might be gone, but someone is still looking out for them, by throwing a guy out the window.

Strolling past that window, was Sara’s favorite street rat, Sin. She calls after her old vigilante pal, excited to see her after all this time, but the Black Canary and her red-hooded friend motorcycle away.

Captain Lance calls Felicity, offering any help he can. He might not officially be able to do anything in the Glades, but he can slide some off-the-record info to The Hood Squad. Felicity winces at the name and says they prefer Team Arrow. She also mentioned that the artist formally known as Red Arrow is called Arsenal and Lance thinks that’s just hilariously random.

Across town, Malcolm and Thea are training, and when Malcolm bests Thea, he asks her why she hesitated. When she says she didn’t hesitate, she stopped just shy of patricide, Merlyn says that would be her death in combat. Thea reminds him that she just didn’t want to have to carry around a rape whistle, but he reminds her that she has been marked for death by the League of Assassins. Thea reminds him that she did not sign up for this.

Flash back to a weird-haired Merlyn comforting a young Tommy after he had a nightmare. He holds his son close and promises that he will never let anything bad happen to him, and he certainly and definitely would not murder him, not indirectly nor directly, not now nor in 20 years. But the doorbell rings and sets the course that would make Malcolm a big fat liar; the police are at the door and they tell Mr. Merlyn his wife has been murdered.

Arsenal meets Lance in an alley to get the info he promised. Lance knows it’s Roy right away, because of the red hoodie he always wears, and despite only knowing him for what? A year? Either Oliver never wore green a day in his life or Lance is in some serious denial about his favorite vigilante.

Back at Arrow HQ, Roy offers to suture Laurel, but she remembers how much it hurt last time, and says thanks but no thanks.

They didn’t have enough evidence on Brick to arrest him properly, but they did just figure out that Brick was the one who killed Rebecca Merlyn all those years ago. And since Malcolm was creepily watching Team Arrow Minus the Arrow do their thing, he finds out too.

Meanwhile, Oliver is trucking through the wilderness when he starts to cough, probably getting something caught in his windpipe via the HOLE IN HIS CHEST. He hears someone tracking him and Tatsu appears, ready with sage advice for him: To defeat Ra’s al Ghul, Oliver will need to learn how to fight. And not from a hip hop boxing class; from someone who trained under Ra’s. Preferably Nyssa. But Maseo is also an option.

Thea finds her new dad freaking the freak out and Merlyn confesses that he thought his first kill was his wife’s murderer, but now he knows he was wrong, that his wife’s death hasn’t been avenged yet. Thea suggests going to the police, or even Laurel, but Malcolm looks at her like he wants to ask her if she’s new here.

He tells her that he really thought he was doing things for the greater good, but his life was a lie. And he’s about to set it right.

Flashback to a teeny Tommy and a tiny Oliver talking about Tommy’s mommy being an angel while a friend of Malcolm’s gives him the identity of the #1 suspect in his wife’s murder. The end of innocence on all fronts.

In the Arrow Cave, Diggle suggests just stepping out of the way and letting Merlyn kill Brick, but Felicity points out that even if she supported that plan, how would Merlyn find him? She can’t find him, and if she can’t find him, no one can find him. The team thinks aloud until Laurel remembers that Brick’s men were using walkie talkies at the diner. She adorably asks Felicity if she can use this information to find Brick, and by the time she finishes her question, Miss Smoak has coordinates.

Ironically, those coordinates are the police precinct in the Glades.

Brick calls the three men he sent to the diner into his new office and asks why the two vigilantes are still alive. When they don’t have a good answer, he plays his favorite game: you kill me or I’ll kill you. The first was quicker than most, bless his heart, but was not fast enough. Brick turns to kill the next guy when the lights go out; Felicity cut the power.

Diggle guides Roy and Laurel through the darkness, the two of them moving like shadows in the night, taking down Brick’s goons one by one. When they finally reach Brick, like the boss at the end of a video game level, things suddenly get a lot harder. Things are about to come to terms when an arrow flies and a man in a black hood shows up: The Magician.

Laurel and Roy take Merlyn back to the Arrow Cave, where Felicity greets him like a queen would greet a visitor to her court.

Merlyn says that, in exchange for saving their lives just now, he would like to team up. He thinks their deep-seeded hatred for him might be outweighed by their need to eliminate Brick. Laurel is the first to speak up and say that they know he means murder, and that’s not what Team Arrow stands for. They’ve seen enough death.

After a brief chat with Thea about how Merlyn saved her during the riots, Roy actually agrees that they could use Merlyn’s help. Laurel too is considering it; sure, death bad justice good, but what if they did just turn a blind eye to this? Laurel isn’t about to invite him over to use the salmon ladder, but this really could be an answer to their problems.

Felicity is not impressed.

Roy points out that Merlyn saved Thea with no ulterior motive, which seems a little naive. Felicity does not waver. She is sure Oliver would be growling if he were here, putting his foot down against any thought of this. The team tries to remind her that Oliver isn’t here, but that doesn’t matter. Felicity worked really hard to get him to stop being the kind of vigilante who traded one life for the lives of others, to show him the difference between justice and revenge. Hell if she was going to let his team take the easy way out just because was probably rotting in some ravine somewhere. She wasn’t going to let them wear that bloodstain on their souls.

Despite Felicity’s moving speech, Roy still wants to vote. When Diggle goes outside to tell Merlyn the verdict, it’s clear that everyone except for the boy blinded by his love for Thea has accepted Felicity as their leader. Diggle says the day they let the end justify the means is the day they become no better than Malcolm Merlyn.

In Starling City, Thea goes to Merlyn to appeal to his humanity one last time, to beg him to show Brick some mercy, to remind him of the time he traveled through time and space in a greatcoat to save the world a hundred times over. But Merlyn says whatever part of him that was once capable of mercy is gone; that part of him died with his wife.

Flashback Merlyn is in a tizzy in the wake of killing the man he believed killed his wife. He doesn’t feel any closure about her death, he doesn’t feel avenged; he didn’t assuage his anger, he only piled irreparable guilt on top of it. Tiny Tommy wakes up and tells his dad he misses his mommy, and Malcolm says he has to go away for a little while, to a place where he can turn his anger into something useful, where he can learn how to keep his family safe.

Back at the Arrow Cave, the team wonders if they made the right choice, and Diggle assures them that regardless, it was the right thing to do. A lightbulb casts a thoughtful glow over Laurel’s head and she realizes that sure, they need help, but assassins and part-time bad guys aren’t their only resource, and they haven’t tapped into the one most readily available: The people of the Glades themselves.

Laurel goes to her trainer, who isn’t fooled by her Black Canary costume for a second, but agrees to join forces. Roy goes to Sin, who immediately asks about Sara. Roy says they’ll talk about Sara later, but for now, he needs her help.

In the truck on the way to the seized precinct, Laurel admits she’s scared, and wonders what makes her crazy, being scared or being part of this. Roy points out that they’re wearing masks, so they’re long past the point of questioning their sanity. Felicity is ready to end this, so Laurel gets ready too.

Brick is leaving his precinct with his body guards when Arsenal and the Black Canary appear, Brick laughs at the sight of them, but Roy and Laurel tell Brick that he failed this city, something I hope they practiced in the Arrow cave because that’s hilarious to imagine.

Brick calls forth his army of goons and in response, Roy and Laurel call out their army of citizens of the Glades. Unfortunately, not a single person snaps or sings; instead, they get right into the rumble.

Laurel, Sin and Roy take turns kicking ass and taking names. Pretty much everyone else besides Brick gets beat to a pulp, including Laurel’s trainer. When Laurel goes to check on him, Sin is confused to see Sara caring about a boy when she was so obviously into girls and the wheels start turning. (Okay it’s possible it was a number of other things, but whatever.) Malcolm shows up and Brick says the whole hooded vigilante thing is getting a little old.

Merlyn chats with Brick while they fight, about Rebecca’s death, and about the gun Brick used. After a little description, Brick does remember killing Merlyn’s wife; she was his first, his initiation into the gang. This just infuriates Merlyn even more and comes very close to killing him when the Arrow appears like the sun through the clouds on a stormy day.

He declares that there has been enough death, but Merlyn says he’s already killed hundreds of people, including his own son, what’s one more? But you know, he knew the exact number of people he’s killed. The exact number of lives lost at his hand. That’s not something an irredeemable soul would do. Oliver tells him to make a different choice this time, for Thea.

Across town, Lance gets an alert on his phone and gets up, running off excitedly like he was off to meet a celebrity. When he gets to the Glades, the Arrow is on a literal pedestal, declaring to the Glades that they did not fail this city. Quite the opposite, in fact. He apologizes for leaving and promises he’ll never leave again. He makes a dramatic exit and everything is as it was.

The cops return to the Glades, and Sin thanks Lance for helping bring them back, something she never thought she’d say.

Lance recognizes her as a friend of Sara’s, and speaking of Sara, Sin thought he should know that whatever Canary is flying around these days isn’t Sara. For one, she’s a good five inches taller. For another, she fights like she literally started training last week. Also, there’s no way Sara would have been within a few feet of her buddy Sin and not said hi. Lance is like, “Pssh, no, I talked to her!” And Sin is sure this means he already figured out it wasn’t his daughter, overestimating Lance’s powers of perception. (One out of three vigilante disguises seen through does not an observant person make.)

As soon as Merlyn gets through telling Thea he didn’t kill Brick, that maybe this is the start of something new, Oliver comes over. Thea is relieved to see him, just like she was relieved to see the Arrow, and wait a minute…

Merlyn and Oliver shake hands and play nice, which confuses Thea but she’s not going to ask questions and jeopardize it. She goes to make tea and Merlyn promises Oliver that he didn’t mean to get Thea targeted; he had only used Thea as a vessel to kill Sara so that Oliver would kill Ra’s al Ghul and take the mark off his head; he didn’t see how that possibly could have gone wrong. Oliver promises he WILL kill Ra’s this time, but he’s going to need to train under someone who trained with the Dragon’s Head. He’s going to need to train with Merlyn.

Flash back to Merlyn visiting the League of Assassins for the first time, where he is almost murdered by a teeny tiny Nyssa al Ghul.

Unsure of how to treat a miniature assassin, he treats her the same way he treats his son and pulls a coin from behind her ear. She says something in another language, and when he asks what she called him she says, “Magician.”

When Oliver finally gets back to the Arrow Cave, his team is waiting for him. Especially Felicity, who hugs him good and tight.

Oliver apologizes for not reaching out while he was sort of dead, and expresses how grateful he is that his team is still intact, and that they saved the Glades without him. Mostly. He says that he’s going to train with Merlyn to defeat Ra’s al Ghul and Felicity. is. FURIOUS. She did not waste a whole big speech about What Would Oliver Do just to have him stroll right in here and go against everything she thought he believed in. When he has nothing useful to say to her, she tells him she’s glad he’s not dead and storms off.

Oliver goes outside to talk to her, despite her reminding him that wanting air usually doesn’t involve having to breathe in weeks old almost-corpse man musk. He tries to apologize, and she asks him what, specifically, he’s apologizing for. For being dead for weeks without any contact whatsoever? For abandoning his principles to live as a lapdog to a wealthy daughter of the revolution? When he was gone, Felicity would sometimes imagine his heroic return. How he would sweep her off her feet, praise her for all the work she did keeping Starling City safe (and actually be Sara).

Felicity reminds Oliver that the last thing he said to her was that he loved her. But you know who else he loved? Thea, a blackout murderer. Also? Sara, dead. (Other people he loved that Felicity didn’t mention: His parents, both dead. Shado, dead. Helena the Huntress, arrested. Tommy, dead.) And you know what? Felicity loved Sara, too. And now they’re all heartbroken. If this is what being loved by Oliver was like, she wants no part of it. She’s done.

What did you think of “Uprising”?

Next week, we get to see the lovely Caity Lotz on our screen again, though the preview already spoiled the surprise of in what respect she will return. (I won’t spoil it in case someone has it seen it, discuss amongst yourselves if you will.)

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